For those that don’t know (where’ve you been?) Kid Sublime is the alter ego of pianist, drummer, deejay and fulltime record producer Jacob Otten; someone I’ve been aware of for a number of years now, who’s always struck me as a true music lover.

Jacob has very kindly put together a selection of tracks that have influenced his style for our next podcast. This is the kind of mix I used to enjoy having on my radio show Act Now. It gives a great insight into where an artist is coming from creatively.

As well as putting together the selection he has answered a few questions for us and given a brief run-down of the tracks along with the tracklist.

What is your earliest memory of music – the first time it resonated with you?

My first encounter with music is probably the first real “life experience” I can remember as a young kid. I must have been 4 or 5 years old.We had an oldschool hifi setup with a turntable, cassette deck and a tuner in the house. There were alot of records stacked and somehow I picked Duke Ellington & Johny Hodges’ “Back To Back” record on Verve. The whole record was on some basic blues stuff. I heard the tune “C-Jam Blues” and it just blew me away. I ran to the piano, which was in our house next to a snaredrum and Hi-Hat my grandfather brought back for me from Japan where he toured as a flute player. I clearly remember trying to replay that song on the piano. I put the record back on when it finished and tried it again..and again. So straight Jazz music was my very first encounter. After that I went thru all the records in the house. Jimmy Hendrix, Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Joni Mitchel and James Taylor. My mother played alot of James Taylor in our house. My parents made me take piano lessons for ten years..which kinda paid off! And I always been playing drums in Hardcore Punkbands.

You mention Theo Parrish playing Nobu, did he give you the ID? I know he’s notoriously tight with giving out track IDs when he’s DJing! Although he owes me one for the ID I gave him while DJing in London.

Nah. I am not sure, but i think i was there in Japan in ’03 when Rushhour brought me over with them. He went to our gig and later that week we went to his. Antal from Rushhour told me which track it was…and i found it a few years later in Japan.

Other than music, do you think anything else has had a significant influence on your style?

Bruce Lee (“Be like water my friend “) and just life in general. Meeting people. Hearing where they are coming from. The ups and downs. I’m a spiritual person so I always start from what I feel inside… the spirit and then take it to the listener or dancer or vocalist or anybody out there.

There is never really a “wall” it’s just you gotta keep working and working and working until something happens you really like. Some days I make alotta music, but nothing will ever get released from that batch. Sometimes it just pours out like water… I don’t know how it works. I trynna just let it go and not expect anything from a studio session. Probably only 15 percent of what I make will see the light of day… the rest is on my harddrive… sitting there.

What have you got lined up for the rest of the year and when can we expect to see you in London?

I’m going on a big tour this juli : 8 gigs in Japan then Australia and the last stop will be New-Zealand. This tour is for my new album : “HOT WATER MUSIC” on the Japaneese Teppen records. It’s a soulful HipHop album with alotta dope features. So I will be promoting that on the road. Next to the new album I will release a new series of 4 track e.p’s called : “BACK IN THE BALLROOM vol.1,2 & 3 “. The first one will be released digi in june and the vinyl will be released in August. All 3 e.p’s will be out on www.dopenessgalorerecords.com later this year. I would LOVE to come play London!! The crowd is always heavily involved in the music…I like that! There is nothing lined up for London right now, but hopefully I will play there this year!!

Bobby Hitcherson – Sierra

I grew up a teenager in the 90’s…full on B-Boy and Fusion Jazz. Tracks like this would immediately inspire you to put a record on the turntable and sample it in your MPC. I used this on my first solo album “Basement Soul”.

Homeboy Sandman ­- Not Really

I first heard about this cat a few years back. He’s been around for ever though. Think He’s from Brooklyn. Fresh and Soulfull HipHop like we used to do it… played with him in Vienna… cool dude… extremely dope emcee.

Sly and The Family Stone – In Time

Well… this is probably the funkiest individual on planet earth… His “There’s a Riot Going On” is one of my fav. LP’s… I think he kinda lost his mind on that album… it’s so funky, gritty and really raw… sounds like it’s just him in the basement. SICK!! This track is from a different l.p, though Dilla sampled the hell outta this track! :)

Slum Village – Beej ‘n Dem

Of course always gotta throw Dilla in the mix…what can I say? This is from their Fantastic vol.1 demo… made in 3 days. First recorded the accapella’s and made the beats to the vox afterwards… that alone is the work of a genius. Hands down… Dilla is the King of Beats. Period.

Blessed working with his team myself : Frank N Dank, Illa J, Que D… all really cool cats. Super humble and All about the music.

Herbie Hancock – Nobu

Theo Parrish played this record once in Amsterdam and it BLEW ME AWAY!!

Learned it was a Herbie Hancock Live in Japan LP called “Dedication” found it when I was touring in Japan many years ago… so happy with this album…

Early Techno Music. SICK!!

Stephin Encinas – Disco Time

A dope, dope re-issue.

An average Disco tune can start off pretty good and then gets really corny when the band starts singing…, but this track?? pffff…heavy fusion Jazz-disco…comes close to a deeper Roy Ayers record… the stoned days… this tune is intensely funky!

Scan 7 – The Resistance

What can I say about this track? HUGE classick! The whole Underground Resistance crew always comes equipped….play this on a club night…people go absolutely CRAZY!!

Dave Cruisin – The Condor

Back in the 90’s producers were heavy on their Soundtracks… fusion and jazz based recordings… this is one of those tracks… I think it’s sampled a million times by every single Hip Hop producer on the planet. SICK!

O.C – It’s my world

And of course a record from the midnineties era…nuff said.

Earth, Wind & Fire – The Sun Goddess

I sampled this for one of my early Basement Works releases on Rushhour back in 2003. This whole live album is so dope! What can I say? True musicianship… real soulful and funky!